Let's Give Them Something to Talk About : Anniversary Edition
by KayKayeLLe
Summary: 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY. COMPLETELY REWRITTEN. Mary and Wilson find love after getting pregnant in Season 2. About the difficulties of going against your family to believe in true love. S2-S11. 250,000 words already written.
1. Author Notes: 10 Years of Mary & Wilson

Hello world.

I have decided to post this because today is the 10 year anniversary of the day I started working on this story.

I had posted this waaaay back when, but I never really had an ending to this story. I got so burnt out by the end that I rushed ahead to a chapter that was more exciting, published that, and then left it hanging. That's not something I recommend doing because here I am 10 years later still working on it in an attempt to complete it.

The entirety of this story encompasses end of Season 2 through about the end of Season 11 and somewhere in the vicinity of 200,000-250,000 words. It's so big that if I put the whole thing into one document, it crashes Word and Google Docs.

Needless to say, it isn't completed – yet. There are some actual holes, which I really hope to fill in, and some areas where I would love to nail down exactly which version I am going with.

The original title of this was Let's Give Them Something to Talk About. For now, I am going to try and post everything into this story. I'll decide later if I actually want it as a trilogy or not, which is how I have written it.

It's pretty much 75% different from the original. However, the general plot is loosely the same.

Not to spoil my first few chapters, but: It's Season 2 finale time. Mary ends up pregnant instead of Annie. Strife and an epic romance between her and Wilson ensue.

I welcome feedback. When I first began writing, it felt stupid to write anything that I wasn't going to publish. Now it's the complete opposite. We'll see how this goes. I'm cautiously excited.


	2. Preface

PREFACE

Mary interlaced her fingers with Wilson's. Her parents, Lucy, and Simon were all upstairs. They had made out for an hour in peace, until Mary started pulling at his shirt and Wilson started pawing at her hips.

She smiled at him mischievously and he smiled back knowingly. They were pushing it, but neither of them cared.

"So..." She looked at her watch. "We still have another thirty minutes probably."

"That's enough."

"It's never enough." She kissed his cheek. "I missed you." They had been dating again for a little less than a month. Ever since Wilson had helped Lucy get over the death of her friend, Mary and Wilson had been inseparable. Mary felt like a piece of her that she lost had been found.

"I missed you, too."

She raised an eyebrow. "Then you shouldn't have dumped me."

"Don't remind me."

She giggled. Wilson sat back on the couch and Mary joined him, leaning her shoulder against his chest. He wrapped her arm around her and his hand fell on her left bicep. "Should we have done something more productive with our night?"

"No, this was pretty good." His fingers drummed on her arm. "Do you want to go to a movie or something tomorrow night? We can go make out in the dark."

She laughed. "That's always better, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

As Wilson said that, Lucy bounded through the front door in a huff. She saw Mary and Wilson in the living room, and walked over to share her misery.

"What happened?" Mary asked.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing! There are no guys out there!"

Mary looked to Wilson. "She went boy-hunting." Wilson snickered. "That's what you get for going to the mall. Who do you think is at the mall on a Thursday night?"

"Old people with their kids dragging them out after they get home from work, that's who."

"Then try again tomorrow," Wilson suggested.

A light bulb went off for Lucy. "You're a guy. Where do you go to hang out?"

"Here, with Mary."

Lucy grumbled. "When you weren't dating Mary, where would you hang out? Where do your single friends hang out?"

"Parties."

"I'm not allowed to go to real parties. What about-"

Mary cut him off. "Enough. Wilson was just leaving."

"Fine." Lucy skulked up the stairs.

"You're kicking me out?" he joked.

"No. But now I have to go deal with that." Mary pointed to the stairs. She got up and showed Wilson to the door.

He told her he'd call her when he got home. She came out to the car with him, and kissed him before he got in. She hated to see him leave; it made her heart ache.

Wilson kissed her again, his hand holding her cheek. "I'll call you. And I'll see you tomorrow night." He kissed her once more and pulled back. He noticed the look in her eyes, this look of happiness and sadness at the same time. "I'll see you," he said again. She kissed him for a third time, long and tender. "Good night Mare."

"Good night."

xxxx  
Mary picked the movie on purpose. It was at dinner time, which was usually the most dead of the nighttime showings, and this was the last weekend the movie was showing. There were about ten other people in the theater.

Mary and Wilson sat in the back in one of the corners. They had no interest in the movie whatsoever. They arrived right when the previews began and got down to what they came for.

In the back of her head, Mary knew this was dangerous. Wilson was much more experienced than she was. She had noticed a change when they got back together; his experience excited her more than scared her. Maybe she had grown up, but she wasn't sure that was it.

Mary genuinely missed Wilson while they were apart. She had dated guys before him and guys in the interim, but no one had ever made her feel this way. Feel like she wanted to be bad. Feel like she was supposed to be with him right now. Feel comfort in his arms.

Ironically, they had more privacy out in public. Wilson flipped up the arm rest in between their seats and Mary was practically in his lap. Wilson's hands kept creeping up Mary's shirt. She made no attempt to stop him. Mary found herself rocking into him, trying to close any space in between their bodies.

The music in the movie swelled, and Wilson pulled back. She stopped him and she continued. Wilson held her into him as he took a second to breathe. He started kissing her neck, then down to her collarbone.

Mary moaned softly against his ear. He pulled back. She was starting to tease him. Her breath on the back of his neck was driving him nuts.

When the movie finally ended, Mary ducked into the restroom to reapply her lip balm.

Wilson kept looking over at Mary when he drove her home. Her cheeks were flushed and she couldn't stop giggling.

He hated to bring her home. He could do this forever with her.

xxxx

The next morning, Wilson rang the doorbell. Mary answered the door, surprised to see him.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"What are you doing here?"

He shrugged. "Wanted to see you."

She kissed him. "That's nice of you."

Wilson closed the door behind him. He looked around the room; he knew something was off. "It's quiet in here."

"They're all out," Mary responded. She leaned against his side and he put his arm around her waist.

"Maybe I should go home," Wilson said. He tried to pull away a little but Mary wouldn't let him.

"No, stay," she said. She picked up his hand and held it between them.

"For a little bit."

Mary wasn't expecting him, and didn't know what they should do. "Want to go upstairs?"

"Um..." Wilson contemplated Mary's innocence. They had talked very briefly on the subject. He found that she was innocent in practice, but she wasn't naive. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." She tugged him by the hand and upstairs.

They both sat on her bed and looked around the room. Wilson had been up there before, but now seemed different. He put his hand on her knee and smiled at her. Mary took this as a sign to begin their never-ending make out session and kissed him.

They began like usual, until Mary remembered that she was home alone. When Wilson started in with his hands on her side, Mary grabbed his forearm and moved his arm so that his hand was at her chest. He was shocked but did not pull away.

Mary felt alive. "Go ahead," she said between kisses.

Wilson stopped. "Are you sure?"

She kissed him. "Very."

He made sure to look into his eyes. "How far ahead?"

Mary rolled her eyes. "Wilson."

"What?"

Mary didn't let that continue. She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him. After planting another kiss on his lips, she tugged at his shirt. Wilson could only resist so much. When she was successful, she ran her fingers over his chest. He was tan and toned.

She sat up and took off her own shirt and smiled.

Wilson's eyes went to her chest, then back up. "Mary."

"Shh." She put her finger to his lips and began to nibble on his ear.

xxx

Wilson moved off of Mary. He wanted to lay next to her, but there wasn't much room on the twin bed. Instead, he sat next to her and put her legs on top of his. She wasn't making eye contact and Wilson felt terrible.

Mary was thankful her legs were on top. She crawled over, found her underwear on the floor and slipped them back on. Wilson followed her lead.

Before Mary could do anything else, Wilson grabbed her hand. He shook her arm to get her to look up at him. When he did, he saw the tears in her eyes. That was what he expected.

"Hey," he said quietly. "Are you OK?"

She looked back down. "Yeah."

"Did I hurt you?"

"No. I'm fine."

Wilson tried reaching for her face. He wanted to see if Mary would pull away from him. She didn't. Wilson cupped her face and used his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Mary smiled slightly and collapsed into him.

He held her, and he could feel her crying silently against his bare chest. "This was probably a mistake." It came out without him thinking.

"No," Mary insisted. "No. I'm just," she wiped her eyes again as she looked at him, "emotional."

"OK." He kissed her forehead. "Let's get dressed. I'll sit with you."

Mary went looking for her shirt. She was thankful her bra never came off; she would have felt too exposed. "That's not a good idea. If somebody comes home..."

"I'm not just going to leave."

"You're not." She slipped her shirt over her head. "I'm fine, really. You can go. You should go."

"Mary. I'd really like to stay." He was standing before her in his boxers, which cancelled out the strength of his argument. He looked sexy, but bordering on pathetic.

She kissed his cheek to show him she was OK, then handed him his pants. "Get dressed. I'll walk you out."

When they got to the front door, Wilson kept looking into her eyes. "I really care about you." He stopped short of saying he loved her, which Mary noticed but didn't dwell on. "I'd be happy to stay... or come back later once your parents get home."

"Again, not a good idea." She started pushing him out the door. "I'll call you."

Wilson could not have felt worse. "If you don't call me, I'm going to call you."

"OK, OK." She tried to flash him her most confident smile. "Bye."

Mary shut the door and fell against it. Wilson stood on the porch for ten minutes, not yet ready to leave.

xxxxxxx


	3. Chapter 1

**LET'S GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT**

Two minutes into Sunday's sermon, Mary stormed out of the church. The pressure was getting to her and she had to get out before she lost it in the fishbowl that was GlenOak Community Church. She didn't stop to look back at the Camdens. Church was for good people, the righteous. Mary never felt like she was particularly good or bad, but now things were different.

Mary ran fast without thinking of the consequences of her actions. Now everyone in her family would know that something was up with her, besides most of GlenOak, and she would be confronted with endless talks until they dragged out all the details. In her frustration she flung open the front doors of the church.

Her eyes filled with tears and her vision blurred with the added moisture. Three steps onto the front sidewalk, she ran right into someone. Mary landed in someone's arms as she apologized profusely.

"It's all right," the unidentified person responded with a touch of a giggle in his voice. "Now, why did you run out here?"

Mary pulled away from the man who had wrapped her in his arms, and rubbed the tears from her eyes. She looked at the face of the person in front of her and recognized him immediately, even with her emotion-impaired vision. It was Wilson, the only person who could comfort her right now. Mary re-buried her head into his chest on purpose this time, giving up to her attempt to compose herself.

"What's wrong?" he asked while softly rubbing her back.

"No, you first," she protested. "Why are you out here and not inside?"

"I was afraid to come in. I wanted to see you, but I was scared you hate me," he confessed.

Mary wrapped her arms fully around Wilson. "I don't hate you. I'm sorry I didn't call you back."

"It's OK. I was afraid that I-"

She interrupted him. "You didn't force me."

"I feel responsible."

Lucy came out of the church and cut off Wilson.

"Oh, sorry," she said upon seeing the two of them together. "I didn't mean to interrupt anything. I just came to find out if Mary's all right."

"She's fine," Wilson answered for her and dropped her hands. He was better at covering than Mary was. "We were just talking."

"You sure? Because I know she doesn't just run out of church for no reason."

"I'm fine Luce," Mary said glaring at her sister.

Lucy nodded and went back inside the church looking defeated.

"Great, now the whole town is going to know I'm out here with you," Mary told Wilson, sounding more cynical than ever. "Now what were you saying before?"

"I was saying that I feel badly. I should have stopped us from going as far as we did. I'm older than you, and more importantly, I care about you Mary." He wiped her tears from her eyes. He was happy to have the chance to touch her again; he was certain after that fateful morning they would be through. "I should have been looking out for you. What we did was not right and no matter what you say I take full responsibility for it."

Mary's eyes immediately shot down to the ground. She pulled herself away from him and crossed them firmly over her chest. "We need to talk," she told him in a serious, monotone voice.

"Yeah, we do," he agreed. "Could we talk now or do you want to go back inside?"

"You couldn't get me back in there if you paid me." Wilson laughed at Mary's remark, although she was serious. "Why don't we sit?"

Wilson nodded and took Mary's hand into his. As the two of them walked to one of the benches that lined the front lawn, Wilson squeezed her hand ever so slightly and stared at her with loving eyes. The naïve look on Wilson's face told Mary that this was not going to be easy. She just hoped he wouldn't run away from her, or worse yet have some sort a mental breakdown as a result of their conversation.

Mary shifted her hands nervously. Inside her head, she was searching for the right words to convey the information to Wilson that would change both of their lives forever. He stopped her hands from fidgeting, placing his on top of her shaky ones. She looked deep into his eyes, and Wilson could see how nervous she was.

"What's wrong?" he asked apprehensively.

"Wilson…I…gosh I can't say it."

"Say what?"

"Wilson, I'm pregnant," she blurted out. When Mary had imagined this conversation, she had thought she would be crying. Instead she remained calm.

He blankly stared back at Mary with disbelief. "What?" he said almost in a whisper. Wilson sincerely thought he was hallucinating. She couldn't be pregnant- he couldn't have made this same mistake twice. Mary's tears came once she saw his reaction.

"I'm sorry." she cried out although her voice was muffled by her sobs. "I'm so, so sorry Wilson!"

Wilson reached out to Mary and brought her close to him. He stroked the back of her hair lightly as she cried on his shoulder. This was the consequence of being unprotected. "Shh…shh…it's OK. I'll think of something, don't worry."

"Like what?" she asked pulling away from him.

"I don't know yet," he said with all honesty, "but the first thing we have to do is tell our parents."

Mary continued to cry even louder; she knew he was right. She just couldn't imagine telling her parents that she was pregnant. This must be a mistake. The clinic must have told her wrong.

"Wait," Wilson said out of the clear blue. "Are you sure?" She wasn't exactly experienced; maybe this was a mistake.

"I went to the doctor."

"How did you do that?"

"I took the bus to the free clinic down on North Street, and then I went back 3 days later for the results."

"How could they- I mean, are you sure your parents have no idea?"

"I'm pretty sure they don't. They would have said something to me."

He kissed her forehead before standing up. He paced back and forth in front of the bench, hands clasped behind his head. This was blowing his mind.

A minute later he spoke again. "OK, then when are we going to tell them?"

"Can we tell your parents first?" she asked.

"Uh…" Wilson paused for a second. "That might not be a good idea."

Before Mary could say another word, the church doors opened. Worshippers poured out from the building, stopping the two of them in their tracks.

Mary looked toward Wilson, giving him a "Now what?" look, but he just shrugged. She rubbed her eyes when she heard heels coming fiercely down the concrete. Mary turned around to see her mother.

"Are you OK?" Annie asked Mary.

"Yeah, I'm all right," she lied.

"If you say so. Your father and I want to talk about this when we get home, so why don't you go get in the car?" Annie had seen Wilson and was

trying to separate them. She and Eric had talked and they liked that Mary and Wilson had appeared to have broken up during their nearly two-month long hiatus.

Mary glanced over at Wilson as her mind raced for a solution. "Could Wilson come back with us?" she said when she turned back to her mother.

"I don't know Mary…"

"Please Mom," she begged, "I finished all of my homework."

"I'll have to check with your father," Annie replied, having a feeling that Mary had an ulterior motive. She just didn't know what yet.

"Thank you Mrs. Camden," Wilson said.

"It's nothing definite yet."

"I know, but thank you anyways."

Annie smiled at him and walked away. Wilson grabbed onto Mary's hand and looked into her eyes. He could tell that she was scared- a different scared than she had ever felt before. Mary looked so vulnerable and so afraid that Wilson didn't know what to do with her. He squeezed her hand, hoping to comfort her. Wilson looked on as Mary eyes journeyed down to the church pavement and tears rolled down her already damp cheeks.

What had they done?


	4. Chapter 2

Mary and Wilson sat alone outside at the picnic table. They were holding hands and Mary was sitting with her eyes closed. She had had longer to process the idea, and was now dealing with the fact that she wasn't the only one who knew her secret. Not only that, but most likely by the end of the day everyone would know.

Wilson, conversely, was still dealing with the shock of the news. He was staring at the grass thinking how much his life was going to change.

Mary put her other hand on top and pulled his hand into her lap. Wilson turned his head a quarter toward her, thinking she might speak. "I'm sorry," she said. "If I could go back, knowing this was going to happen, I would never have brought you upstairs."

"We should have used protection."

"Did you have any that morning?"

"No. I wasn't expecting to-"

"Exactly. I take responsibility."

He turned in his seat. "Listen to me. When we tell your parents or whoever, I will take responsibility for this. I want to and I feel responsible."

"Wilson, no."

"Yes," he insisted. "I'm going to get blamed anyway."

"I hate this," Mary said. She closed her eyes again.

"Do you..." Wilson backed into this slowly. "I am open to whatever you want."

"Whatever I want for what?"

Wilson was thankful her eyes were closed. He didn't think he'd be able to ask her this any other way. "Do you want to make this go away?"

Mary sat straight up, eyes now open wide. "You mean like an abortion?" He gave a faint nod. "Wilson, my father's a minister."

"Yeah, but..." He wanted to say if she decided that, they would never have to tell them. They would never have to know. It wouldn't matter who her father was.

"I could never kill something, someone. No."

She tried to yank her hand back, but he held it tightly. "I was just asking your opinion. I won't bring it up again."

"OK." Mary tried hard not to lose it.

Wilson could almost feel Mary's mind racing. He picked up her hand and kissed it, forgetting that they hadn't been intimate since he had gotten her pregnant. Mary gave him a small smile. He was making a real effort, and for that Mary was thankful.

"So are we telling them what our plan is? Or does it not matter, because they're going to tell us what they think we should do anyway?"

"How do you think they're going to react?"

"Angry. Really, really angry." Mary leaned against him. "We should probably enjoy this time together because I doubt they will ever let me see you again once they learn we slept together."

"They're going to have to if we're having a baby."

A heavy silence hung between them. Mary took her hand back and put her boundaries back up. Mary hated showing her emotions to anyone. The one concession she would make was when Mary felt the person she was confiding in understood what she was going through. At this point, Mary didn't know whether Wilson having a baby was the same thing as Mary having a baby. "Maybe you should go." She scooted away. "Maybe I should tell them on my own, or we should tell them later..."

Wilson stepped up. "We can tell them later if you have a good reason. Otherwise we should just tell them now."

"Maybe I should tell them alone. You stay here and I can go inside and tell them." Mary's chest was heaving with stress. Wilson put his hand on her shoulder to calm her, only to stress her out even more.

"I'd like to be with you when you tell them."

Mary was slightly in awe of his courage. "Why?"

"Because we're in this together."

She looked away, Wilson assumed because she was going to start crying. "I feel like such an idiot."

"This happens to a lot of people. It happened to me."

Mary turned back as if she had an idea. "That's how my parents are going to feel. That this is your fault and that they never should have agreed to let me date you."

"Is that how you feel?"

If Mary was honest with herself, she wasn't sure. "I don't think one has to do with the other."

He sat back against the table with a dull thud. The wood tabletop crashed against the muscles in his middle back. "They are going to hate me."

Mary mirrored his position. The table shook as she leaned against it. "I don't."

xxxxxxxxxxx

"I- we- I have something to tell you." Mary thought that if she couldn't even settle on a pronoun, how was she going to settle down and raise a baby? "You're not going to like it, you're going to be really mad... and before I even say anything I want you to know that I'm sorry." Mary's eyes flashed to Wilson's for a quick second, then went down to the floor. She tried soaking in the last moment before her parents hated her. "I'm pregnant."

Mary set them up well; they both assumed that was what she was going to say.

"No," Annie said. "No, you can't be. We told you not to have sex."

"You did this to her?" Eric screamed at Wilson. "You had sex with my daughter?"

"Y-"

Mary didn't want him talking. She could handle this. "Yes. It happened over a month ago and-"

Annie laughed. "I knew there was a reason he wasn't coming around anymore."

"Did you use protection?" Eric demanded. "Or did you think that it wouldn't happen to you?"

"We didn't. We weren't thinking."

Eric turned his attention on Wilson. "You should have been thinking! You've already been through this! I hope you're proud of yourself, having kids with two different women before you graduate high school."

Finally Wilson spoke. "I'm not. I'm ashamed and sorry."

"Why?" Annie asked Mary. "Why did you do this?"

"I don't know. It just happened."

"Has this been going on?"

Having the answer to this question made her feel better. "No. Just once."

"How are you going to support a baby?" Eric questioned. "You're fifteen. You don't even have your driver's license yet!"

"I've got a job," Wilson replied. "I'll get another one."

"There is no way you can support two children on minimum wage!" Eric started pacing around the room. "You need to go home."

Wilson held his ground. "I'd like to stay."

"Go home, Wilson," Eric said again.

xxx


	5. Chapter 3

Mary traced the shapes on the quilt that covered her bed. The blue and pink circles had been omnipresent in her bedroom for the entirety of her life that she could remember, and had a calming effect.

Lucy, on the other hand and on the other bed, elicited the opposite reaction.

"Why? How? When? Tell me everything." She was nearly jumping up and down in gossip anticipation.

"No."

"Oh, come on. You can't just tell me you're pregnant and not share any of the good stuff."

"What good stuff?"

She sat in closer. "What was it like?"

"Finding out I never should have broken the Camden family abstinence pact? Horrible."

Lucy was losing patience. "You know what I mean."

"It was weird. Scary." Mary wanted to admit that it was also exciting in a dangerous sort of way, but she withheld. "I don't know."

"This is why you weren't talking to him?"

Mary looked away. "It was weird."

Lucy found Mary's vulnerability and dug deeper. "Why?"

Her eyes welled with tears, but Mary blinked them away. She needed to be strong. "I don't know. I wasn't thinking. Things were going so well, I was so happy to have him back, and..." She stopped to collect herself. "I never meant for that to become this."

Lucy understood, but couldn't imagine. "Mom and Dad are never going to look at you the same way again."

"I don't look at me the same way."

Lucy felt bad; she tried to change the subject. "When are you due?"

"Nine months from..." She didn't need to count. "The first week of January."

"Oh. Well that's a long time. You have a while to-"

"Grow a baby?" Mary interjected.

She stopped. She wanted to gage what Mary's anger was directed toward. "Mary, was this... Was this your idea, or was it his?"

Annie knocked on the door frame, and then laughed. "I don't know why I was knocking. No one is going to have any privacy in this house ever again."

"Hi, Mom," said Lucy. She stood, scared and confused. There had been more yelling than she had ever heard in her life. "Do you need something?"

"Your sister to go back and use better judgement." Annie shook her head. "Mary, actually, your father and I would like to talk to you."

"Again?"

Annie quickly raised her voice. "Yes, again. Again and again until we can come up with a way not to be so unbelievably angry."

"Fine." Mary left with her, but she wasn't going to like it.

xxxx

That night, a knock came on the kitchen door. Eric peeked through the curtain then opened the door. Instead of letting the guest inside, he met him out on the porch.

"I thought I told you stay away."

Wilson was defeated. "I'm sorry, I just. I wanted to speak with Mary briefly."

Eric's blood was boiling. "Mary can't have visitors right now."

"I can talk to you then, I guess. I, um," he stopped. What he wanted to do was cry, but he knew that wasn't an option.

"If you came to apologize or something, that isn't going to fix this."

"I didn't, though I am still sorry. My parents, my father, kicked me out. I... Can I sleep in my car in your driveway? I wouldn't ask, but I don't know what else to do."

Eric paused. His sympathy was lessened as he attempted to process what this meant. "For good?"

"I believe so, yes."

The next logical question, "Where's Billy?"

Wilson was trying very hard not to have a breakdown. His lips quivered and his voice faltered. "They wouldn't let me take him. They said he's better off without me and I can go screw up other people's lives without him."

Eric nodded. Would he have done the same thing? "You can sleep on the couch for now, but you need to go back and discuss this with your parents."

"I will try, but they were pretty clear. I'm eighteen and they are no longer responsible for me."

But Wilson was forgetting something. "What about your two year old son? You're responsible for him."

Wilson snapped back at the reverend. He could put up with a lot of things, but too much had happened in the span of a few days that was trying his patience. "I don't know, OK?" This marked the first time that Wilson ever stood up for himself in front of Eric, but it certainly would not be the last.

If they had moved on to yelling, Eric was done with this conversation. He opened the door and allowed Wilson access to the house. Wilson mumbled a thank you as he crossed the threshold. Eric walked him into the living room and handed him a blanket that was laying across the piano bench.

"You are not allowed upstairs under any circumstances, understood?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Do not go looking for Mary. This isn't some free for all."

"I won't."

Xxxxxxxx

Mary sat and stared at Wilson as he slept. His chest rose and fell while his arm twitched at his side. Mary's racing thoughts were washed away as she watched him. There was something so vulnerable about him while he slept that she couldn't peel herself away.

His arm twitched hard, and his eyes sprang open. He caught a figure staing at him in the darkness and he jumped.

"Mary?" He whispered, hoping it was her. Dark silhouettes, aided by the light streaming through the living room windows, were all he had to go by.

"Shh," she said.

"You can't be here. You're dad-"

She leaned in closer so they could talk more discretely. "He can't control me."

"I don't want to make him angrier. I don't have anywhere else to go."

She'd heard something like that when her parents were whispering themselves about Wilson sleeping in the living room for the night. "What happened?"

"My dad kicked me out and wouldn't let me take Billy. He thinks I will ruin him and I have disgraced the family."

"I have you beat there."

He closed his eyes again. "Not in the selfish department."

Mary sighed. "What are you going to do?"

"I don't know. Live in my car. At least that is in my name."

"You will not."

He recovered himself with his blanket. "Can we talk about this tomorrow? I can't do it anymore."

Mary sheepishly handed him the pillow she was clutching on her lap. "I brought you a pillow."

He wouldn't have accepted anything from her, but his neck was killing him from sleeping on that ill-supportive couch. "Thanks." Wilson fixed his makeshift bed and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"This part is my problem, not yours." His voice was gravely. "Go back to sleep, you need your rest."

Mary stood and waited. In her desperation and sadness, she did something she hadn't had the course to do earlier. She bent down to Wilson's head and kissed his cheek softly. Without a word, she disappeared back up the stairs.

xxxx


	6. Chapter 4

Mary wanted to hole up in her room and never see the light of day again, but her stomach had other plans. She awoke famished early the next morning, and trudged downstairs to find some food with more than a little reluctance.

"Good morning."

Mary's head sprung up. Matt was sitting at the dining room table with Wilson. Wilson raised his eyes, but not his head. His anger mixed with sadness ruined his usually upbeat demeanor.

"So now he's not just sleeping with you, he's sleeping over?"

Wilson let one slide.

Mary wasn't in the mood for any of this. "Did you even bother to ask why that was?"

Matt stood with an evil laugh. "Isn't it obvious?"

"He didn't have anywhere else to go."

Matt continued to laugh, but now turned to Wilson. "Were you squatting?"

"I told you. You dad let me stay."

"He's really losing it then. How could be possibly let you back in the house?"

Wilson stood. He wasn't going to subject himself to this or allow this to escalate further. He looked at Mary when he spoke. "I'm going to go."

"Go where?"

He didn't answer, just walked around Matt and toward the living room. Wilson had one bag of clothing and his toothbrush that he was able to grab before his parents kicked him out, and he'd brought that into the house with him. All he wanted was to grab that and leave.

Matt followed him into the front room. Mary was a few steps behind. "You can't stay here. I don't care what my dad said." He was about a foot behind Wilson.

"OK," Wilson replied. He lifted up the blanket to get his bag.

Matt was unrelenting. "You're disgusting, you know that?"

"Matt, stop," Mary pleaded.

He wouldn't. "Mary never would have had sex if it weren't for you. What, being a teen father and widow wasn't enough? You had to knock Mary up, too?"

Wilson lost it. He turned back around toward Matt, dropped his bag, and shoved Matt's chest.

"Stop," she said.

"That's all you got?"

Mary saw Wilson push Matt again, and then Matt lunged. They were both at each other, but Matt was bigger. After a brief struggle, he got Wilson down. His head missed the corner of the solid wood coffee table by less than an inch, and Mary screamed. Matt was on top of Wilson trying to give him a black eye.

"Stop! Stop!" Mary yelled. She hadn't noticed that she'd started to cry.

Eric came rushing down the stairs after hearing all the commotion. "Hey!" he yelled, taking two stairs at a time on his way down. "Get off!"He yanked at Matt's shirt and eventually he stopped.

xxxxxx

Mary sat down next to Wilson. He had been on the front porch for hours. Wilson didn't look at her when she approached.

"Hey," she said. "What are you doing?"

"I have no clue."

Mary's heart broke for him. She reached for his hand and squeezed it, but was at a loss as to how to approach this. "You... Matt is..."

"I get it. I can't do that." His gaze was fixed in the middle distance.

"I don't know what to do here." She moved his hand from the cement step into her lap. A tear fell down her cheek. "This has to work, OK? I need you, and you need me."

"It's going to be hard, a lot harder than just dealing with your parents and Matt."

"OK."

"Worse than you can imagine I think."

She squeezed his hand again. "But do I have you in this or not?"

Finally, he looked at her. Mary's tear stained cheek glistened in the sun. Wilson wiped away her tears. Mary tried to smile, but instead she just cried harder. "Hey hey hey. Stop. It's OK."

"No, it isn't."

"It can be."

Mary couldn't control herself. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Mary stood and ran back into the house. She couldn't let him see her cry like this.

xxxxxx

Eventually, even Eric came out to sit with Wilson. "You can't live on my porch."

"It's the church's porch, isn't it?"

He shook his head at the boy's insubordination. "I talked to your father. He's an angry man." Wilson didn't say anything. "He says he wants to draw up papers for you to sign over custody of Billy to your parents."

"I know. That's why they kicked me out. Because I told him no."

"Can you raise two kids on your own? Does Mary want to raise two kids?"

Wilson kicked the sidewalk underneath him.

"Annie and I don't want to raise two kids that aren't ours. It isn't fair to us or to Lucy and Simon and Ruthie. It's destroying a family that we worked twenty years to build in the two seconds that it took you to..."

"You're wrong." His eyes narrowed. "You're wrong, but they're probably right. They can provide a better life for him that I can, with a mother-figure and a father-figure, an income, health insurance." Wilson laughed. "He's a healthy kid. He needs health insurance more than he needs his only living parent? Is that what I am saying?" Now he looked right at Eric. "I got married at fifteen. My wife, who I knew for less than a year, died. Her parents wanted to have me arrested claiming murder by association. They went down to the damned police department to file charges. I got through all of that, and now because of three minutes with a girl who I actually love - I have to sign away my kid like he's property?"

Eric was unforgiving. "Yes."

Wilson's heart was pounding in his chest. He wasn't a dumb guy, despite some of his actions. "You know, my scholarship doesn't cover the dorms. I have a full ride for classes at Crawford, but nowhere to live."

"You want to live here, with Mary? Over my dead body."

"Live here and raise the baby," Wilson clarified. "I know how to raise and infant and go to school. I know how to deal with a toddler. I just did all of that."

"I'll have to ask Annie." Wilson didn't seem too convinced that Annie would have any say in this matter if Eric said yes. "I'll call him back, tell him I talked to you."

Wilson nodded.

The minister side of Eric kicked in. "Are you sure you understand the implications of this?"

Wilson didn't need to think about it any longer. It was all he'd done since the idea was shoved down his throat. "I do."

Eric spelled it out. "You'd have no legal rights to Billy. Your parents don't want to see you right now."

His face hardened. "I know. There's nothing I can do."

xxxxxxxxxxxx


	7. Chapter 5

"You have to be kidding me!" Matt nearly threw his chair across the room as he tried to push it back into the dining room table. "You're letting him live here now! What is this, The Twilight Zone?"

All of the kids froze. Wilson wasn't eating with the family. Mary's head remained looking down in shame as it had for the past five days.

"What kind of example does this set for the rest of us?"

"He didn't have anywhere else to go," Annie said.

"So what?" Matt laughed in between screaming. "You are all going crazy." He took it a step farther. "If he's going to live here, I can't. I won't."

"You're leaving?" said Ruthie.

"Yeah, if that's what it takes."

"Matt, come on," said Annie. "Where are you going to go, anyway?"

"I don't know. I'll figure it out."

Mary stood in a huff, rattling the table. She ran out the other door and into the kitchen. She shook with emotion. If Matt was looking to torture her, it was working.

He pushed through the swinging door. Mary jumped.

"I hope you're happy!" he continued to yell.

"Shut up! I didn't ask for any of this! You're just making it worse!"

Matt walked out the back door. He slammed it behind him. The glasses rattled in the cupboard. The only remaining sound was Ruthie crying.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Wilson slept on the couch for another ten days until it was official that Matt had moved out and didn't plan on coming back. Since there was nowhere else for him to sleep, he took over Matt's room - the attic. Eric and Annie had offered it to Simon, and were thankful that he turned it down. They wanted Wilson as far away from Mary as possible.

That only worked so well for them. Mary had a fascination with what it meant that she now had a live-in boyfriend, if she could still call him that. They weren't exactly together in any sense that they were prior to that mid-morning rendezvous.

When they passed each other in the house, they would share a knowing glance. In Mary's head, Wilson was always trying to say 'You know, I've seen you half-naked.' It made her jump.

Wilson didn't have much interest in talking with Mary those first few weeks. He didn't know what to say or how to act. He hated to hurt Mary by not being what she wanted.

After Mary successfully passed her first trimester, neither one of them believed it was best to keep avoiding each other.

When he passed her in the foyer, he stopped her. "Hey."

"Hi."

"Are you busy right now?"

It was the beginning of the summer. Mary was never busy. "No. Why?"

"Can we talk maybe?"

"Sure."

He walked into the living room and Mary followed him. She didn't like being so out in the open, and peered over her shoulders when she sat.

"So how are you doing?" Wilson asked her.

"I'm doing OK. I feel a little better."

"Good, good."

"How've you been?"

He laughed, not understanding what she meant.

"We haven't really talked much in the past few weeks. I just..."

He felt bad. "Fine. I've been fine."

Mary steered the conversation more toward him. She didn't want to talk about the baby. "You've been working a lot."

"Trying to save money and keep busy."

"Have you talked to your parents at all?"

"No. I..." Wilson admitted to Mary what he thought only her father knew. "I signed over custody of Billy a few weeks ago. Their lawyer told me that with that I can't ever go back home."

Mary had no idea it had gotten that bad. "What?"

"Yeah. It's OK though. They'll give him a good life. It's for the best."

"How can you say that? You love him."

"Maybe I did it because I love him."

Mary wasn't so sure. The pain in Wilson's eyes told her otherwise. "OK." She didn't want to push the topic when it was so clear he didn't want to discuss it.

"So do you, like, hate me now?"

She touched his knee. "No. It was my id-"

Wilson started shaking his head. "Don't. The sounds carries."

"But..."

"You were innocent before I came along. I ruin everything."

Now she reached for his hand. "Don't do that either, OK? We'll be OK."

He squeezed her hand back. "I guess that's kind of my question. Are we OK? Or is it too weird?"

Mary laughed. "You're such a girl sometimes."

He smiled back. They both felt the connection.

"I don't feel any differently now than I did then. If you don't think it's weird, then I don't think it's weird."

"Then it's not weird."

Mary wanted to kiss him. Then she remembered she was pregnant, and that she felt fat, and her moment lapsed.

"Do you mind that I'm living here?"

"I feel bad that you have to live here. But I don't mind." She let go of his hand. "I wish we'd talk more, though. That's what's making it awkward."

"We'll talk. We're talking now, right?"

xxxxxx


	8. Chapter 6

"How are you feeling?" Wilson asked. Mary was sitting in the window seat in the back of the living room. Happy was at her feet as she listened to her father typing up his sermon in his office.

"Fine," she responded.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" He didn't wait for her to answer. He took a seat on the piano bench facing Mary.

"Sure."

Wilson flashed her a smile and she managed to smile back. Things had been strained between the two in the weeks since Wilson moved in, and he felt bad about it.

"Look, I-"

Mary put her finger to her lips to silence him. She pointed to the door next to her, telling him her father was undoubtedly listening to them. He nodded knowingly and continued.

"I don't want you to feel alone. That's all I wanted to say."

"That's..." She didn't know how to respond. She never felt more alone in her life. "Thanks. Why are you so nice, huh?"

"I have no reason not to be nice to you. You're having-" he stopped, remembering Eric and hoping to spare Mary's feelings. "I should be nice to you."

Mary swung her feet around to look at him directly. "I don't want your pity."

"It's not pity." His eyes darted from her for just a moment. Wilson finally showed some weakness in his thick exterior. Mary loved seeing a flash of his vulnerability.

"Good. 'Cause I mean it."

Wilson reached for Mary and tapped her knee. Her heart began to pound from his touch. "OK." He stood and left the room.

Mary smiled and, once she realized it, quickly covered her face with her hand. Even alone she was embarrassed.

xxxxxxx

Many more weeks were spent lonely and separate. Wilson missed his old life and missed not having Mary, either.

It took him a lot of time to feel comfortable enough in Mary's house to be able to approach her again. He waited all morning in the kitchen one day and waited to grab her.

"Hi." She was surprised to see him.

"Hey." He forced a smile. "How's it going?"

Mary walked closer to him. "What's wrong?" Even completely disconnected, he couldn't fool her.

"Nothing."

"Do you have everything you need while you're here?"

"Yeah."

Mary's heart broke for him before it broke for herself. Thankfully, she knew what he needed from her. "Let's go for a walk."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Just as things were getting better, real life started coming back into focus.

Near the end of the summer, Annie busted through the back door. Wilson and Mary both jumped. The ball they had been bouncing between them while talking bounced past Wilson.

"There you are." Annie focused her attentions only on Mary. She usually pretended Wilson wasn't there.

"Y-yes?" Mary was afraid.

"Your father and I have been looking for you for an hour."

They couldn't have been looking that hard. The basketball bouncing can be heard in the house. "I've been right here."

"We want to talk to you about school."

"What about school?"

Annie glanced quickly at Wilson. He didn't appear to be cowering in fear. "Come inside please."

"Can he come?" Mary only asked because she knew it would anger her mother.

"Don't be silly."

Mary trudged along after her mother and followed her to her father's office. Annie shut the door behind them.

"Here's what you're going to do with school," Eric began. It was the first time he'd said anything to her in months. "I spoke with your vice principal and your guidance counselor, and you will stay in school up until you give brth. After that, they typically give girls a month before they are required to come back to school and continue submitting assignments. Is that clear?"

The last thing Mary wanted to go was to think about having to go back to high school while prgnnt. "Yes."

"Both of them were very disappointed in you. Your vice principal almost cried."

Mary hung her head. "OK."

"What were you doing outside with Wilson?" Annie started.

"Nothing. Talking."

"You've been spending a lot of time with him."

"He lives here," Mary replied.

"Don't remind me," said Annie.

Mary found her voice. "Would you rather we weren't talking?"

"Yes. That boy undermines everything you believe. He is not a good influence on you, and he's acting like all of this is OK. Not in our family."

"No, he isn't. And I know nothing is OK. Nothing is ever going to be OK again. Everyone hates me. I hate me."

"We don't hate you, we blame him for this crazy behavior you exhibited."

"Fine," Mary said. She didn't have the will to fight. "Am I going to be behind in school?"

"You should be able to catch up. You better catch up."

"I will. Somehow."

"We also wanted to ask you," Annie began with a slight tremble of trepidation, "are you having sex?"

"No."

"Don't think just because you can't gt prgnnt that you can do whatever you want. There are many other factors at play."

"I don't think that. I said no."

"To him?"

Mary grit her teeth. "No in response to your question. He hasn't asked and he isn't going to ask."

"How did this happen before?" Mary did not respond. "Mary?"

Mary refused to answer anymore questions. While she understood their position and that they had a right to be mad, they didn't have a right to invade her most private moments.

"Fine," said Annie. "Go."

xxxxxx


	9. Chapter 7

Mary passed Wilson in the hallway. He smiled hello, and she grabbed his arm to stop him from going past.

"Yes?"

She laughed. "Sorry, I." She smiled. "I'm going to go to church tomorrow. Do you want to come with me? If you're not working."

"I thought you weren't going to church anymore."

Mary shrugged. "I kind of feel like going."

He searched her face for a reason, only to come up with nothing. "Yeah, I'll go with you."

"Thanks."

She went to leave, but now he grabbed her.

"Yes?"

Wilson smiled. "Are you up to something?"

"No." She gave a quick glance around the hall and then kissed his cheek.

xxxx

The next morning, Wilson could hear the yelling downstairs. Apparently, the only person Mary informed that she was going to church was Wilson. Annie and Eric tried explaining (rather loudly) that this was a terrible idea, but Mary fought back. In the process, Simon, Ruthie, and Lucy all got caught in the crossfire.

The front door slammed and he came down from the attic with caution. He found Mary alone in the bathroom brushing her teeth. Her eyes looked like she'd been crying.

"Are you ready to go?" Her voice was garbled as she spoke through the foam.

He stared at her reflection in the small mirror. "Yes."

"Good." She spit. "You need to drive; they left without us."

"I heard." He blocked the door so she couldn't run. "Why?"

"They don't think I should go."

"Why?"

"Sin."

He tried not to laugh in her face. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." She pushed past him. "Let's go, we're going to be late."

xx

Once at church, everything got worse. They arrived only a few minutes before the start of the sermon, so they had to walk past all the congregational seating. The whispers followed them from the back toward the pulpit.

Halfway up, Mary was blocked by a woman in a yellow dress. She waited for a moment, hoping she would sit, but the woman was oblivious to Mary's presence. Wilson stood close behind. The longer they stood, the louder the whispers got. It was like she was a celebrity.

She tried to pass. Wilson's hand went to the small of Mary's back to guide her, and Mary swatted it away. Wilson blushed with embarrassment.

The family scooted over and let them sit at the end of their pew. No one looked at her.

Two rows behind them, the gossip wouldn't stop.

"That's Mary Camden?"

"Yeah."

"She's gotten so fat."

"She's not fat, she's pregnant."

"Super, super pregnant."

"She's not that pregnant, either. My older sister had a baby and she looked like a whale, an actual whale. She's just... pudgy."

"Some Christian she is."

"If she's super anything, she's super Christian. That's why she's keeping it."

"But if that's the guy who got her pregnant... I can see why. He's gorgeous."

"He is. If she was just going to get knocked up, what a waste."

When those two teen girls stopped, two guys started on the other side.

"If I'd had known Mary Camden was easy, I would have gone after that."

"She's fertile or something. You'd be a dad."

"And it would almost be worth it."

"She was hot."

Once they stopped, Wilson looked at Mary. Her eyes were closed and tears were pooling in her eyelashes. If they listened to the room, the words "Mary" and "pregnant" could be heard above the murmurs.

Wilson had to do something. He put his hand on her knee and squeezed. Mary put her hand on top and burrowed her fingertips in between his knuckles. Not in his wildest dreams would Wilson have thought things would be this bad.

To make matters worse, Eric's sermon for the week was about sinning even when you've been told over and over again the right thing to do. If they had been going to church all along, they would have noticed that that had been the topic all summer long. It's all Eric thought about.

xxx

Mary followed Wilson up to the attic. Morning sun streamed through the small window; dust sparkled in the light. The dark wood surrounding felt fitting of the dark cloud that was over Mary's head.

"This was a disaster."

"Did you know those kids?"

"I've seen them in the halls." Her voice quivered. "I think the girls are in Lucy's grade."

"No one has a right to judge."

"They do. We're supposed to be an example."

For the first time, Wilson understood the immense pressure Mary was under - from her parents, the community, her peers. He wasn't sure how she kept it all together.

Mary didn't either. What was the point if everyone hated her anyway?

She no longer felt comfortable in her skin. Mary started pulling at the shoulders on her dress. She couldn't reach her back, and now she started to cry. "Can you unzip me?"

She was in such a frenzy that Wilson wasn't in a position to resist. Mary moved her hair out of the way, exposing her neck. He unzipped the tiny dress zipper down to the small of her back. She tore off the shoulders and let the dress fold forward in half. The material pooled around her waist and stuck to her hips.

Mary stood in front of him in her blue bra. Wilson was so good to her; he looked her in the eye and watched her meltdown.

"I know I'm not that fat. Am I that fat?"

"No." He reached for her hands. "Honey, no."

"I just wanted one normal morning like the way things used to be. Everything is such a mess. Everything is ruined."

"We'll be OK."

Mary stepped away. "Can you stop with that crap?"

Options dwindling, he reached out and kissed her. Mary trembled.

"I should go."

"Go get changed, come back up here, and sit with me."

"I'm not allowed up here," she reminded him. "Especially not alone with you."

"What are they going to do?" he asked, referring to her parents.

"Kick you out, scream." Her mind raced. Mary's eyes shifted, but when they landed on his face, she felt the same thing that had gotten her in trouble in the first place - trust. Mary sighed. "This is exactly what my dad was talking about - doing the wrong thing even when you know it's the wrong thing."

He stepped back. "I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to do."

"That's got nothing to do with it." Mary pulled up her dress and left the attic.


	10. Chapter 8

"We should talk," Mary said.

Wilson assumed this had to do with what he did yesterday. He immediately went to apologize for his actions. "I'm sorry."

"No. I went to the doctor today."

His heart began to race. "And?"

Her face was blank. "He's moved up my due date."

"OK."

"No, not OK. It's not a good thing. I've..." she didn't even know how to begin saying this to him. "I have some risk factors."

His concern strengthened. "Like what?"

"My age, my stress levels, and something else."

Wilson assumed that was more of the medical variety, and left it alone. It was clear she wasn't ready to share that with him. "Can we do anything?"

"Nothing."

"How much did he move it up?"

"It's just an estimate, but a month."

"Wow."

"Yeah," she mumbled. Her eyes went to the floor and stayed there.

"You OK?"

"No." She refused to look up. "I'm scared." He hugged her and she shrugged him off. She shook her head and tried not to cry. "I'm sorry, I just... I can't." Mary pushed his chest with one hand and ran off up the stairs.

He didn't follow.

xxxxxx

Wilson heard someone on the stairs. It was the middle of the night. He rolled over and waited for whoever it was to enter, assuming if it was a real intruder that their first destination would not be the attic. It was the end of November, and a chill was in the house.

"Mary?" he tried, in a whisper.

"I can't sleep."

"What time is it?"

"2:30."

Wilson rubbed his hands over his face and then strained to see her in the darkness. "Can I get you anything?" He felt the mattress dip as she sat on the end.

"No." She sighed and waited for him to do something.

"Get in." Mary didn't hesitate. She settled into the empty area next to him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You shouldn't be in bd with me."

"I'll go."

"You don't have to." He wanted to rch for her hnd but didn't know where it was. "What's going on in your head?"

"Too much, probably."

"You're not supposed to be stressed."

"Then take it away."

"It's late," he mumbled. "Just go to sleep."

"I can't sleep here." Mary sat up and went to the door. She looked back, gave Wilson a smile which he did not see, and turned to leave.

"Mary, wait." He sat up. "I could go for a glass of water."

xx

The kitchen had a soothing calm in the middle of the night. Mary sat on one of the stools at the island and waited as Wilson poured them both some water. He either hadn't bothered or hadn't remembered to put a shirt on. Mary smiled at the farmer's tan he'd had left over from summer.

Mary cupped the glass with her hands on the counter. He sat next to her and mirrored her position.

"If you don't tell me what's wrong, I can't help you."

She nodded. "I don't know if I can put it into words. I feel restless."

"I miss my parents. I miss my son. I miss my house. I miss being in high school. I wish I could go back."

"I miss my parents. They hate me more than I ever would have thought."

His first reaction was to say things would get better, but he had no idea when, so he said nothing.

"We're idiots," Mary said into the empty room. "It wasn't even worth it." He laughed at her candor and Mary covered her face. "No, I wasn't refering to. I just..." She smiled, too. "See? Idiot."

"The last thing you are is an idiot."

She looked down and into her glass. The midnight quiet made everything seem more serious. "I've been throwing myself at you."

If that's what that was, she was bad at it. "Why is that?"

"I don't know."

"Mary," he put his hand on hers, careful not to tip over her glass, "that's not my intention here. I want to be your friend and your prtner. If that were to even be a possibility, things would have to be different."

"Part of me thinks that if everyone thinks I'm so terrible, then I might as well act it."

"I get it, I've been there."

She laughed. "And you feel all responsible for me. I'm sixteen years old."

"In another month or so you'll have someone you're responsible for."

Mary nodded solemnly. "Are you going to get up with me at night when she cries?"

"She?"

"Just a feeling."

"We can take turns," he answered. There wasn't any sense in them both turning into sleep-deprived zombies.

Mary spoke softly. "Sometimes I think about it and I get excited. Is that wrong?"

"Of course not."

"I understand why girls who have a bad family life try to get prgnnt. Everyone needs someone to love them unconditionally."

Mary finished her water and then put down her glass. She turned in her seat to be facing Wilson. He looked back to see her face. "And you're so calm about all of this. How?"

Now Wilson looked away. "'It's an act. I'm scared out of my mind."

"Finally," she said. "He's human."

Wilson chuckled. "You should get some sleep." He raised an eyebrow. "In your own bed."

"What's the fun in that?"


	11. Chapter 9

"Wilson!"

No one would ever forget that scream. Mary was panicked, crying already. The next thing Wilson knew, he was in front of her. He didn't even know how he made it down the two small flights of stairs leading to the upstairs hallway.

"I'm bleeding," she said. All modesty was gone out the window. "It hurts."

Wilson didn't know what he was supposed to do. Mary was doubled over in pain clutching one of her bedposts. He looked around and saw Eric and Annie's bedroom door open a crack. Annie darkened the early morning light that streamed in between the molding.

"You call the doctor," she said as if she knew he hadn't a clue. "Then you get in the car and go to the hospital."

"Thank you," Wilson said.

"Ow!" Mary yelled.

xxxxx

Matt busted through the kitchen door. Eric and Lucy were at the kitchen table, mugs of coffee in between them. He looked up and saw Simon and Ruthie sitting on the steps, Ruthie fast asleep on the landing.

"What happened?" Matt questioned, mostly directed at his father. His voice boomed.

"I don't know. They're at the hospital. Mary and your mother and him." Eric couldn't even bring himself to say his name.

Matt turned his attention to Lucy. She was hugging her knees. "Luce, what happened?"

"I don't know."

"Someone knows something!" Matt yelled.

Lucy responded, voice deadpan. "She was bleeding. She'd been having problems and didn't tell anyone."

Matt mumbled to himself, "she's too young to even give birth right." Then he was flooded with questions that he directed back at the family. "Is she OK? How long has she been gone? When did this happen? Why isn't anyone doing anything?"

"They left over an hour ago."

No one moved, no sense of urgency.

"Dad, I'm here now. I'll watch them. You can go."

Eric shook his head. "I'm not going."

"What? Why?"

Eric pounded the kitchen table. The coffee jumped in his mug. "Your sister!" He lowered his a little. "She did this to herself. She's too young. And he... You know what I think of him. I refuse to do anything to make Mary feel better about this situation."

Matt's eyes bulged. "Don't you preach forgiveness?"

"Like you've forgiven her?" Eric mocked.

"If Mary's in trouble-"

"If Mary's in trouble, then that is the consequence of her actions."

"Wow." Matt took a seat at the table. Eric wouldn't look him in the eye. "I hate what she did, I hate Wilson. I'm mad at Mary, I'm mad at you for allowing him to live here. But-"

The phone rang. Matt rushed to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Matt?" Annie said. She was surprised to hear him on the line.

"How is she?"

"They're inducing her. She's two months early."

That seemed like a lot to Matt. "Do you need me to come down there?"

"No. I'm coming home. I can't do anything here. They won't let me near her. Only one person in the room."

"Can Wilson handle this?"

"He is the father," Annie reminded Matt.

"Right." Matt looked around the room. He was in more of a panic than his entire family put together.

"I'll be home in a half an hour," she said, and hung up.


	12. Chapter 10

The contractions started coming quickly. Mary was screaming and Wilson frantically asked if there was anything they could do. The only response he received was that Mary was too far along for an epidural.

There was talk in the room between the doctor and nurses of Mary needing to have a c-section, and he started feeling very overwhelmed. If Mary were to have surgery, someone from her family should have been there. Wilson wasn't in charge of her.

This was all going wrong. He desperately wanted to rewind twenty-four hour and have the chance to fix whatever he could.

However, things progressed and surgery wasn't necessary. Before either of them realized, it was time to push. Mary shook off Wilson's attempts to grab her hand. Her cheeks glistened from her under the harsh fluorescent lighting, but Mary's face remained calm.

Once the baby was out, Mary burst into tears.

Wilson listened for the sound of crying other than Mary's. There was none.

xxxxxxx

It was a few hours before they were able to get any concrete answers.

The doctor came in and sat on the corner of Mary's bed. The sheet around her legs was tugged by an inch. She was in a daze and had to force herself to focus so she could comprehend what was happening. Wilson stood next to her. He was ready to spring into action.

The doctor began to explain the situation. "Here's what's going on. Your daughter was born fairly premature. Survivability is not impossible, but she's in neonatal intensive care and we are going to watch her closely."

"What exactly is wrong with her?" Wilson asked because Mary couldn't. She was staring blankly into the middle of the room.

"Right now, her lungs are underdeveloped. We had to put her on a breathing machine because she can't breathe on her own. What we usually do in cases like this is administer steroids to speed up the growth of her lungs."

"Is that what we are going to do?"

"She's critical, but stable. I want to monitor her for twenty-four hours and then we can evaluate from there. But yes, that's what it's looking like as of this moment."

"Why was she born so early?" Mary asked.

"We talked about this. You had risk factors for premature labor, mostly your age and some spotting."

"Can we see her?" Wilson asked, choking back some tears. "They just took her and..."

"I know, that must have been upsetting. You can see her soon. I'll have a nurse come get you."

"OK."

"This can be overwhelming. Do you have any other questions?"

Wilson chuckled nervously. "I don't know." Mary didn't respond.

"Are your parents here? Do you want me to speak with someone?"

"No," Mary said. "It's none of their business." It wasn't like anyone was out in the waiting room anyway.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Wilson wheeled Mary in front of him as he followed a nurse to the NICU. Mary hadn't spoken and hadn't slept since before she went inot labor over twenty-four hours ago. They got to the door and Mary began to yell. She tried to stop the wheelchair from moving.

"Stop, stop," she started saying. "I can't do this." Wilson tried to take her hands. "This is too much. I can't-"

He wanted to cry. "We can. I'm going with you. We'll be fine."

"You go in first. If it's really bad, you can warn me."

"No. We're going in together. You need to meet your daughter."

Your daughter. The words smacked her in the face and snapped her out of it.

Wilson pushed again and she relented. The nurse showed them to her incubator and there she was, looking almost like a tiny, underdeveloped chicken. Mary went up as close as she could. She was smaller than any baby Mary had ever seen.

Machines and cords were everywhere. Her little chest was being artificially pumped. Her eyes were taped shut and her hat covered most of her head.

Mary put her fingers on the plastic separating them. Everything overwhelmed her. She realized Wilson's hnd was on her shoulder, and she shrugged him off.

Wilson finally spoke many minutes later. It felt like only a second had passed. "I'm going to call your parents. Can I leave you here?"

"Why?"

"Because they should know."

"Why? I had a baby and they didn't bother to come."

"Your mom was here."

"And left." Mary head spun around. "What can they do about this?"

"What can you do about this?" He countered. "But you're here."

She looked back to the baby. "Do what you want."

xxxxx

"Hello?"

Wilson hadn't left the inside of the hospital all day. He had no idea what time it was, and certainly no idea that he'd probably be waking up the whole house when he called.

The family collectively held its breath when the phone rang.

"Reverend? Hi. Mary, uh..." Wilson pulled himself together. "Mary had the baby."

"OK."

"She's not doing well."

"Are the doctor's taking care of it?"

"Yes, but..." Wilson was stunned. He couldn't comprehend Eric's lack of urgency.

"OK then." Eric waited for Wilson to speak again, but the words didn't come.

"We might need some help." This was the only time Wilson ever remembered asking that of Eric outright.

"What can I do?"

"I don't know."

"I'll pray for her," Eric said, realizing that pronoun now had two possible antecedents.

That wasn't exactly what Wilson had in mind. "OK."

"Go back and help Mary. Bye Wilson." He hung up.

Annie rustled in the bed next to him. "Eric?"

"It's, she's, not OK."

"Ae we going?"

"What can we do? This is Mary's problem."

"It's not their child's fault," Annie tried to remind him with as much wisdom as she could conjure that early in the morning.

Eric got back into bed, realizing he wasn't going to be able to get anymore sleep. "If Mary asks me to go I will. Until then I am going to stay out of the way."

With that Eric closed his eyes and began his prayers.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**


End file.
